Chapter 30
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: The cake is true!
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The basics of welfare are unlimited cake, right? No way!
...While I was thinking that and trembling with rage, I soon learned a new fact.
"There's a cake room!"
The staff lounge had no cake.
But there was a separate room that provided unlimited cake!
However, it wasn't for staff to use—it was for the 'consumables.'
Word was, they had to eat a set amount every day, so it was set up there.
I'd planned to eat one cake and wander around.
"No choice!"
Cake could be eaten anytime!
I quickly shook off my disappointment and left the staff lounge.
In the process, I realized one more thing.
"This body's so convenient."
I'd picked a body I could move around in freely, but it had an unexpected perk.
Namely, no one came near me.
To be precise, people would glance over and slink away as soon as I got close.
Super convenient!
Thanks to that, I could wander carefree without a second thought. Not that I'd planned to anyway.
"Let's see."
As I walked the corridor, I slowly rifled through the researcher's memories.
Digging too deep might mess up their head, but skimming the surface was no big deal.
Just a bit of tangle in the last few days' memories, at most?
"Hmm."
Rifling through, a few good bits popped up.
I headed straight for the elevator and punched in a specific floor.
Ding-!
The place I arrived at gathered anomalies that had only recently been isolated.
What had caught my eye in the memories was right on this floor.
"Is that it?"
I walked straight ahead.
A small isolation room soon came into view.
These rooms were structured so you could see inside from the outside, except in special cases.
So I could just stand there and peer in.
Inside was a ball.
The fun part? It was bouncing around on its own.
Like someone was playing with it.
At a glance, you might think it was just some self-moving ball.
But my eyes saw something else.
"Hi!"
The ball wasn't moving on its own.
The kid playing with it was just invisible.
To ordinary eyes, anyway.
But I could see it.
Behind the ball.
A kid who looked about elementary school age.
Ghost? Nah.
Just invisible. That was its trait.
The kid tilted its head at my wave, then grinned and waved back.
Whoosh whoosh!
Seeing that, I smiled again.
Of course, the glass here blocked the view from inside out.
But the kid peered right through at me like it was nothing.
It beamed, then went back to kicking the ball around.
Thud, thud, thump-.
The ball bounced off the floor and smacked the wall before rolling back.
Total look of concentration on its face.
I'd thought of playing if it seemed bored, but no need.
Looked plenty engrossed.
I glanced at the panel by the isolation room.
The entity repeatedly exhibits autonomous movement without external stimuli.
Movement pattern appears irregular but confined within a set radius.
Discovered amid playground equipment in the ■■ District, where children were playing with it.
Retrieved and transferred to this facility thereafter.
Further research required, though no acute risk factors identified under current observation.
"Hmm."
They hadn't figured it out at all.
Well, fair enough. Even I could tell observing the kid would be tricky.
And it didn't seem keen on harming anyone around.
I watched a bit longer, then moved on.
No sense lingering in this body and bugging the kid.
Sneak in for playtime later.
"Hmm hmm."
After that, I checked out various isolated entities and killed time.
Once I'd had my fill of sightseeing,
I headed back to the elevator.
Next floor: the first. Where this branch's entrance was.
The elevator plunged straight down,
Ding-!
It arrived at 1F with a cheery chime.
I strolled out of the elevator and toward the outside.
A few glances came my way, but I ignored them and bee-lined for the entrance.
"Any business for heading out?"
The guy stationed near the entrance asked me.
I hit him with some method acting.
"Ahem! What's it to you?"
"Regulations. No outings without special business until shift end."
"Yeah? I got special business. I'm good to go?"
I stared him down.
His eyes went glassy for a sec, then he nodded.
"Yes. Of course."
I brushed past him and through the entrance. The device didn't so much as beep.
Escape so easy it was almost anticlimactic.
But instead of disappointment, I grinned.
"Fun."
I'd sensed something outside and swiped some data, but this was my first time seeing it for real.
Outside the building.
A massive barrier stretched there.
"Pretty tricky."
Honestly, this branch fell short of expectations, but now I knew better.
It was just the tiniest fringe of the Foundation. Rock bottom.
In that light, the barrier passed muster.
I looked up at it.
Ordinary eyes would see zilch.
'Civilians' probably strolled right through.
But anything even slightly off? No dice.
"And the criteria's super strict too."
Probably why Yuna and most of the branch stuck to the grounds.
By HQ standards, they were already contaminated.
"Hmm."
Couldn't punch through? Wrong.
But I figured they'd planned for that.
Barrier breached? Boom, level the area. Or trigger countermeasures.
Failing that, full-throttle pursuit.
Wonder what they'd cooked up. Exciting.
But I turned back soon enough.
I always saved the strawberry on cake for last.
"Walk's over for today!"
Plenty of fun had.
The Foundation branch was a whirlwind of frenzy.
All because big incidents kept piling up.
The Field Response Team leader and an HQ-dispatched researcher had gotten tangled in an anomaly event.
With a high-risk containment, no less.
Good news: no obvious contamination signs. Bad news: the incident at all.
"Paradise's invitation the culprit, huh."
The Branch Chief muttered, looking a decade older.
Paradise.
Even the Foundation hadn't pinned it down fully.
Not just this branch.
HQ slotted it as high-risk, but no airtight handling.
"Full resource mobilization might do it, but..."
The Branch Chief knew that was off the table.
HQ had a laundry list of other headaches.
"Sigh."
He sighed again and scanned the next issues.
'Dawn' locked in isolation? Just as thorny.
This branch was basically on borrowed time because of her.
"If she up and vanishes suddenly, that'll be a real mess..."
Even worse: nothing he could do about it.
HQ orders were crystal: don't poke.
Grant every want within reason.
Keep her here max time.
Right—detain, not contain.
HQ knew the branch lacked the setup to hold her.
"At least this prank was minor."
Today, a researcher acted off for half a shift. Probe revealed entity meddling.
Cleanup? Easy.
Wipe memories, toss in isolation.
Most branch staff were high-risk contaminated anyway.
Himself included.
Maybe even his thoughts were influenced.
Chilling thought, but he shrugged it off.
"Eh. Not the first rodeo."
Daily musing: world's a glass marble.
One liable to shatter any second.
Civilians chugged normal lives. Peek behind the veil? Hellscape beyond imagining.
"Sigh. Getting old?"
All stray thoughts. Stray.
Nothing for a branch chief to fix anyway.
He sighed once more, cleared his head, and dove back into paperwork.
First up: approving 'Dawn Girl' dessert budget hike.
Meanwhile, that very hour.
Folks were converging on the so-called shadow world.
Nearly dozens strong. Simple reason.
"Ooh! Great one!"
"Grant us your wisdom!"
To exalt the exalted.
All eyes on an ornate chair.
Perched there: a girl with jet-black hair and crimson eyes.
The Dawn Girl herself.
Elena.
"Report one at a time."
She smiled as she spoke.
"Cake for whoever brings useful intel!"
The reaction? Utter frenzy.